Allan Bloom

Allan David Bloom (born September 14, 1930 in Indianapolis , † October 7, 1992 in Chicago ) was an American philosopher and professor .

Bloom became known for his political-philosophical cultural criticism The Closing of the American Mind (1987, German 1988: The Descent of the American Mind ). Bloom is one of the most important students of the German-American philosopher Leo Strauss . Although The Closing of the American Mind became a bestseller in the United States , Bloom's works are largely unknown in Germany. Only his student Francis Fukuyama sparked a polemical and not very serious debate about the “ end of history ” (1992) in the German feature pages .

Bloom was significantly influenced by Plato , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Strauss. His work exerted a strong influence on the neoconservative movement in the United States.

Youth and education

Allan Bloom was the only child of his parents, both of whom were involved in social work. At the age of 15, Bloom enrolled at the University of Chicago , which at the time had an early admission program for particularly gifted students. This started his lifelong passion for the concept of a university.

In the foreword to Giants and Dwarfs , an anthology of his essays published from 1960 to 1990, Bloom says that his upbringing began with Freud and ended with Plato . The theme of that upbringing was self-awareness , a goal that seemed inconceivable for a Midwestern youth , as Bloom later noted. Bloom gave Leo Strauss credit for making these endeavors possible.

Academic career

Allan Bloom received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1955 on the Committee on Social Thought . He studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) and Germany (1957). After returning to the USA, he worked in adult education at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser , the author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates . He later taught at Yale University , Cornell University , Tel Aviv University and the University of Toronto before returning to the University of Chicago.

In 1963, while serving as a professor at Cornell University, Bloom also served on the faculty of the Telluride Association . Bloom may have influenced some of the Telluride House residents , including Paul Wolfowitz , a co-founder of both the Project for the New American Century and the New Citizenship Project .

After his return to Chicago he met the Nobel Prize winner for literature Saul Bellow and gave lessons with him. Bellow wrote the foreword to The Closing of the American Mind , the book that made Bloom famous and wealthy, and immortalized the now deceased friend in the novel Ravelstein , in which Bloom's teacher, Leo Strauss, also appears as Felix Davarr . The protagonist Ravelstein resembles Bloom in many ways and, like Bloom, is homosexual.

Bloom's last work was Love and Friendship . He died of AIDS .

Philosophy and works

Bloom's works can be divided into academic treatises (e.g., The Republic of Plato ) aimed at a humanities audience and political works (e.g. The Closing of the American Mind ) aimed at a general audience . On the face of it, this distinction is correct, but closer inspection reveals a connection between the two types, reflecting his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life.

The Republic of Plato

In 1968 Bloom published his most important translation work, an English new translation and interpretation of Plato's Politeia . In Bloom's opinion, the previous translations were inadequate. He tried to act as a mediator between the texts he translated and interpreted and the reader. He followed this approach in his translation of Rousseau's Émile or in his education during his professorship at the University of Toronto . With regard to the Politeia , Bloom strove to free the translations and philosophical interpretations from the influence of Christian Platonism . Until the late 20th century , many English-speaking Platonists followed a tradition that mixed Christian theology with the teachings of Plato. Its literal translation is controversial.

The Closing of the American Mind

His major work The Closing of the American Mind is a massive attack on the contemporary university that is failing its students. The Analytical philosophy is frowned upon by Bloom . Professors wanted these schools and just could not talk about anything important, and her personal example provided for the students not a philosophical way of life is a big part of Bloom's criticism is directed against the devaluation of the Western Literary canons ( Great Books of Western Thought ) as a source of wisdom.

However, Bloom's criticism goes beyond the university space and also deals with the general crisis of US society . In The Closing of the American Mind, he draws parallels between the historical development of the United States and the Weimar Republic . The modern liberal philosophy, revered in the enlightened thought of John Locke that a just society in the sense of Plato could be built solely on selfishness , coupled with the appearance of relativism in American thinking, led to this crisis. From Bloom's point of view, this created a mental emptiness among the Americans, which could be filled by “demagogic radicals” such as the student leaders of the 1960s . This corresponds to the emptiness that reigned in the Weimar Republic , which was occupied by National Socialist activists such as the SA . This was possible because an enlightenment philosophy of pure freedom of thought was replaced by a pseudo-philosophy or ideology. Today, relativism as a characteristic of liberal philosophy has undermined the Platonic-Socratic doctrine - as a result, the Western literary canon has degenerated into rambling talk of dead white men instead of being regarded as a shining source that leads to the highest achievements.

The power of Bloom's criticism of contemporary social movements in universities and in society as a whole stems from his philosophical orientation. The failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the social and sexual behaviors of modern students and their inability to shape their lives beyond the profane offers that are considered to be successful. The pursuit of commercial goals has achieved a higher esteem in society than the philosophical search for truth or the civilized pursuit of honor and fame .

Quotes

“Modernism has a conception of the human being in which the soul is separated. It no longer belongs to nature, but rather to a kind of myth , to poetry and is therefore considered dubious and unscientific. It is not recognizable in modern man. The same view that leads to legal positivism , to the view that there can be no supra-statutory right or statutory injustice, exactly the same view continues to work in science and turns people into a kind of minimal program. "

- p. 227, German edition

"Law may prescribe that the male nipples be made equal to the female ones, but they still will not give milk."

"The law may state that male nipples are equal to female nipples, but they will still not give milk."

- Closing of the American Mind . P. 131

Most important life stations

• 1955: Ph.D., The Political Philosophy of Isocrates with David Grene, classical philologist
• 1957: Stay in Germany (Heidelberg)
• 1962: Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Yale University
• 1963: Cornell University (-1969)
• 1968: Visiting Professor, Department of American Studies, University of Paris (Vincennes)
• 1969: Visiting Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Tel Aviv
• 1970: Prof. Department of Political Science, University of Toronto (1970–79)
• 1979: Professor, Committee on Social Thought and the College, University of Chicago (1979–1992)
• 1983: Co-Director, John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy (1983–1992)

Works

As an author

• Shakespeare on Love & Friendship (2000) (reprint of an excerpt from Love & Friendship ).
• Love & Friendship (1993)
• Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960-1990 . (1990)
• The Closing of the American Mind (1987): The Decline of the American Mind (1988)
• Shakespeare's Politics . (1981) (with Harry V. Jaffa )

As editor

• Plato's Symposium: a translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete . (2001) (with Seth Benardete )
• Confronting the Constitution . (1990)
• Kojève, Introduction to the reading of Hegel , edited by Allan Bloom, translated by James H. Nichols Jr. (1969)
• Republic of Plato. Translation with annotations and an interpretive essay (1968), (2nd edition 1991)
• Letter to D'Alembert and writings for the theater . (Edited and translated by Allan Bloom, Charles E. Butterworth and Christopher Kelly ) (1968)

literature

• Michael Palmer and Thomas Pangle (Eds.): Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: essays in memory of Allan Bloom . 1995.
• Saul Bellow : Ravelstein. Novel , biography Blooms according to all artistic freedoms. 2000.
• Till Kinzel : Platonic cultural criticism in America. Studies on Allan Bloom's “The Closing of the American Mind” (series: Schriften zur Literaturwissenschaft, 18) Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2002.
• Till Kinzel: Allan David Bloom , in: Staatspolitisches Handbuch . Volume 3, Verlag Antaios, Schnellroda 2012. pp. 18-20. On-line

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ravelstein in the section The complete review's